HIV HEALTH SERVICES PLANNING COUNCIL MEETING

 

Meeting Date:           February 25th, 2002

 

Meeting Place:          City Hall, The Mayor’s Conference Room, room 201

 

Meeting Time:           4:30pm - 7:30pm (Extended to 8:00 PM)

 

I.    Call to Order

4:30pm

 

II.   Roll Call

See Attachment A.  19 voting council members and 5 non-voting council members were present, 13 Yea votes are needed to pass; a quorum was established.

 

III. Review and Approval of Agenda

Brad Hume moved to table the committee structure discussion.  Catherine Geanuracos agreed.  The Agenda was approved.

 

IV. Review and Approval of Minutes, January 28th, 2002

            Mjay Sanders and Brad Hume made minor corrections to the minutes.  The corrections were noted for change.  The minutes were approved.

 

V. General Announcements

            Gary Harrell announced that he will not be renewing his membership on the council.  Jim Mitulski thanked Gary for all of his hard work.

Jeff Byers announced that the state notice of award from HRSA, Title II will be reviewed to figure out allocations.

 

VI. Public Comment

Twenty people gave public comments, including Positive Resource Center, Healing Art Center, UCSF, Open Hand, Food Bank, ALRP, My Tree, CATS, etc..

 

VII. Membership Committee Re-appointment Nomination - VOTE

            The Membership Committee made a motion recommending the re-appointment of Margot Antonetty and Fernando Gomez-Benitez to another term on the Council.  Edward Patterson seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

VIII. SFDPH Report, Department of Public Health Budget

            Jimmy Loyce, from the SF HIV Health Services Office gave an overview, on Power Point of the proposed 10% budget reduction for the Department of Public Health.

 

IX. Reductions Protocol – VOTE

            Michele Long Dixon and Russ Zellers handed out materials concerning several reduction scenarios for proposed cuts, information about Ryan White Act, and information about various service categories.  See Attachments C – I.  Laura Thomas reviewed the actual award and the breakdown of its components.  See Attachment I.  The council discussed requesting information from HRSA of a more detailed explanation for the award.  Laura Thomas reviewed and gave background information of the contractual impact of reduction of the service categories.  See Attachment F.  Donald Frazier asked for more information regarding the nature of the reduction scenarios.  Russ Zellers indicated that the reduction scenarios range from more categories held harmless, deeper cuts, to cuts dispersed evenly among all service categories.

 

            Susan Shea proposed a motion to stand by the past decisions of the council regarding reductions and not to reallocate the money; hold harmless the categories of highest importance; reductions across the board is not prioritizing; programs have other funding sources.  Susan Shea offered Proposal F.

 

            Proposal F

1.      Do not reallocate $455,000 rollover funds to Housing

2.      Cut Transportation by 100%

3.      Cut Planning Council Support by 20%

4.      Cut Congregate Meal by 100%

5.      Cut Nutritional Counseling by 100%

6.      Cut Methadone Maintenance by 100%

7.      Change DPH cut from 4.5% to 5%

8.      Cut Complementary Therapy by 100%

 

Susan Shea discussed the reasons for Proposal F.  Brad Hume stated that Housing is too important to reduce. Kevin Johnson was uncomfortable cutting Transportation.  Jeff Byers proposed Proposal D.  See Attachment C.  Elyse Graham seconded Proposal D.  The council then discussed Proposal D.  Mjay Sanders motioned to amend to Proposal D to hold harmless Benefits Counseling.  Jeff Byers did not accept Mjay Sander’s amendment.  Susan Shea called the question.  The council voted 9 No and 9 Yes; Proposal D failed.

 

Brad Hume offered to amend Proposal F to allocate $270,000 to Housing.  Elyse Graham proposed Proposal E, to hold harmless Housing.  See Attachment C.  Jeff Byers seconded Proposal E.  The council discussed Proposal E.  Donald Frazier spoke against Proposal E.  Ken Pearce called the question.  The council voted 8 No and 10 Yes, Proposal E failed.

 

Catherine Geanuracos called the question for Proposal F.  The council voted 11 No and 7 Yes, Proposal F failed.

 

The meeting was forced to break due to the need to vacate City Hall by 8:00 PM.  The Council moved to extend the meeting on Wednesday, February 27th, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM in order to come to a decision regarding the reductions protocol.  The meeting is to be held in the same room.

 

Adjournment

8:00 PM (See preceding paragraph.)